A Chip‐Scale Optical Frequency Reference for the Telecommunication Band Based on Acetylene

Abstract

AbstractLasers precisely stabilized to known transitions between energy levels in simple, well‐isolated quantum systems such as atoms and molecules are essential for a plethora of applications in metrology and optical communications. The implementation of such spectroscopic systems in a chip‐scale format would allow to reduce cost dramatically and would open up new opportunities in both photonically integrated platforms and free‐space applications such as lidar. Here the design, fabrication, and experimental characterization of a molecular cladded waveguide platform based on the integration of serpentine nanoscale photonic waveguides with a miniaturized acetylene chamber is presented. The goal of this platform is to enable cost‐effective, miniaturized, and low power optical frequency references in the telecommunications C band. Finally, this platform is used to stabilize a 1.5 µm laser with a precision better than 400 kHz at 34 s. The molecular cladded waveguide platform introduced here could be integrated with components such as on‐chip modulators, detectors, and other devices to form a complete on‐chip laser stabilization system.